captivity (Ezra ii. 36-39. Neh. vii. 39–42. xii. 1.), these were again divided into twenty-four classes, each of which was distinguished by its original appellation. One of these classes went up to Jerusalem every week to discharge the sacerdotal office, and succeeded one another on the Sabbath-day, till they had all attended in their turn. To each order was assigned a president (1 Chron. xxiv. 6. 31. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14), whom some critics suppose to be the same as the chief priests so often mentioned in the New Testament. The prince or prefect of each class appointed an entire family to offer the daily sacrifices; and at the close of the week they all joined together in sacrificing. And as each family consisted of a great number of priests, they drew lots for the different offices which they were to perform. It was by virtue of such lot that the office of burning incense was assigned to Zacharias the father of John the Baptist, when he went into the temple of the Lord. (Luke i. 9.)

For the residence of the priests, thirteen of the Levitical cities, already mentioned, were assigned, around each of which they had three thousand cubits of land their maintenance was derived from tithes, and various other offerings enumerated in Levit. vii. 6. 10. 33, 34. Deut. xviii. 3. Numb. xviii. 13. 15, 16. Levit. xix. 23, 24. and Numb. xxxi. 28-41.

Over all the priests was placed the HIGH PRIEST, who enjoyed peculiar dignities and influence. He alone could enter the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple: the supreme administration of sacred things was confided to him; he was the final arbiter of all controversies; in later times he presided over the sanhedrin, and held the next rank to the sovereign or prince. His authority, therefore, was very great at all times, espe

cially when he united the pontifical and regal dignities in his own person. In the Old Testament he is sometimes called the priest by way of eminence (Exod. xxix. 30. Neh. vii. 65.), and sometimes the head or chief of the high priests, because the appellation of high priests was given to the heads of the sacerdotal families or courses.

The pontifical dignity, in its first institution, was held for life, provided the high priests were not guilty of crimes that merited deposition. During this period the high priesthood is supposed to have been elective.

The first high priest, after the return from the captivity, was Joshua the son of Josedek, of the family of Eleazar; whence the succession went into a private Levitical family. The office was then filled by some of the princes of the Maccabean family. According to the law, it was or ought to have been held for life; but this was very ill obeyed under the Roman government, especially during the time of our Saviour, and in the latter years of the Jewish polity, when election and the right of succession were totally disegarded. The dignity, sanctity, and authority of the high priest were then almost annihilated; and this office was not unfrequently sold to the highest bidder, to persons who had neither age, learning, nor rank to recommend them; nay, even to individuals who were not of the sacerdotal race; and sometimes the office was made annual. The knowledge of this fact will explain the circumstance of several high priests being in existence at the same time, or rather of there being several pontifical men, (Annas and Caiaphas, for instance,) who, having once held the office for a short time, seem to have retained the dignity originally attached to the

name.

The high priest, who was the chief man in Israel,

and appeared before God in behalf of the people in their sacred services, and who was appointed for sacrifice, for blessing, and for intercession, was a type of Jesus Christ, that great high priest, who offered himself a sacrifice for sin, who blesses his people, and who evermore liveth to make intercession for them. The term priest is also applied to every true believer, who is enabled to offer up himself á spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God through Christ. (1 Pet. ii. 5. Rev. i. 6.)

Next to the Levites, priests, and high priests, the OFFICERS OF THE SYNAGOGUE may be mentioned here, as being in some degree sacred persons; since to them was confided the superintendence of those places which were set apart for prayer and instruction. Their functions and powers have been stated in p. 295. supra.

The NAZARITES or NAZARENES (as the Hebrew word Nazir implies) were persons separated from the use of certain things, and sequestered or consecrated to Jehovah. They are commonly regarded as sacred persons: a notice of their institute will be found infra, in page 320.

The RECHABITES are by many writers considered as a class of holy persons, who, like the Nazarites, separated themselves from the rest of the Jews, in order that they might lead a more pious life. But this is evidently a mistake: for they were not Israelites or Jews, but Kenites or Midianites, who used to live in tents, and traverse the country in quest of pasture for their cattle, as the Nabathæan Arabs antiently did, and as the modern Arabians, and Crim-Tartars still do. Their manner of living was not the result of a religious institute, but a mere civil ordinance grounded upon a national custom. They derived their name from Jonadab the son of Rechab, a man of eminent zeal for the

pure worship of God against idolatry; who assisted king Jehu in destroying the house of Ahab and the worshippers of Baal. (2 Kings x. 15, 16. 23.) The Rechabites flourished as a community about one hundred and eighty years; but were dispersed after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Some of their descendants are said to have been lately discovered in Arabia.

The PROPHETS were eminently distinguished among the persons accounted holy by the Jews: they were raised up by God in an extraordinary manner for the performance of the most sacred functions. Originally, they were called Seers: they discovered things yet future, declared the will of God, and announced their divine messages, both to kings and people, with a confidence and freedom that could only be produced by the conviction that they were indeed authorised messengers of Jehovah. The gift of prophecy was not always annexed to the priesthood: there were prophets of all the tribes, and sometimes even among the Gentiles. The office of a prophet was not confined to the prediction of future events; it was their province to instruct the people, and they interpreted the law of God: hence the words prophet and prophecy are, in many passages of the Scriptures, synonymous with interpreter or teacher, and interpretation or teaching. They also had seminaries, termed Schools of the Prophets, where religious truths or the divine laws were particularly taught. It is unanimously agreed both by Jews and Christians that Malachi was the last of the prophets under the Old Testament dispensation : and it is a remarkable fact, that so long as there were prophets among the Jews, they were not divided by sects or heresies, although they often fell into idolatry. This circumstance may thus be accounted for. — As

the prophets received their communications of the divine will immediately from God himself, there was no alternative for the Jews: either the people must obey the prophets, and receive their interpretation of the law, or no longer acknowledge that God who inspired them. When, however, the law of God came to be explained by weak and fallible men, who seldom agreed in their opinions, sects and parties were the unavoidable result of such conflicting sentiments.

CHAPTER III.

SACRED THINGS. ON THE SACRIFICES AND OTHER OFFERINGS OF

THE JEWS.

THE offerings prescribed to the Israelites have been divided into four classes, viz. Bloody Offerings, Unbloody Offerings, Drink Offerings, and Oblations of different kinds.

I. BLOODY OFFERINGS were sacrifices properly and strictly so called; by which we may understand the infliction of death on a living creature, generally by the effusion of its blood in a way of religious worship, and the presenting of this act to God as a supplication for the pardon of sin, and as a supposed mean of compensation for the insult and injury offered by sin to his majesty and government. In all sacrifices of this class, it was required that the victims should be clean, that is, such as might be eaten. Of the bird tribe, the dove was the most common offering; of quadrupeds, oxen, sheep, and goats were the only kinds destined for the altar. Further, the victim was to be without blemish (Levit. xxii. 22.), and one which had never borne the